On Tuesday, April 25, the Edgewood Town Commission voted 4 to 1 to pass an ordinance restricting the distribution and receiving of medications used for abortion, as well as the operation of abortion clinics within town boundaries (there are no abortion clinics presently in Edgewood, New Mexico). There are two versions of the ordinance, 2023-002, the more recent version claiming that the Comstock Act supersedes New Mexico HB7, also known as the Reproductive Care and Gender Affirming Health Care Act. HB7 was signed into law by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham last March.
The ordinance was derived from templates drafted by Texas attorneys Mark Lee Dickson, founder of the activist group Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, and his partner Jonathan Mitchell, for other towns in New Mexico, such as Hobbs and Clovis. The ordinance reads that any citizen can sue virtually anybody in the town if there is proof that that person violated the Comstock Act, and a plaintiff could be awarded damages up to $100,000 as well as costs and attorney fees with damages capped at $100,000.
It is clear that the commissioners of Edgewood have jumped on the Comstock bandwagon, popular with right-wingers and right-to-lifers. They claim that the Act, which criminalizes the publication, distribution, and possession of information about devices or medications for “unlawful” abortion or contraception, voids any contradicting state laws. As far as I can tell (and I may be missing something), there is no explicit verbiage of the banning of actual abortion procedures or abortion medications per se in the Act, but only the distribution of information about birth control and “unlawful” abortion.
Abortion is legal in New Mexico, it is not “unlawful.”
When the Act was made law in 1873, it banned books on contraception, as well as photos of shirtless boxers, books on human anatomy, and works by D. H. Lawrence. Also, doctors who provided women with information about pregnancy and contraception could be arrested, facing $1,000 to $5,000 in fines and possible imprisonment for up to 10 years.
Perhaps the most disturbing issue here is that municipal leaders in Edgewood, Clovis, Hobbs, Rosevelt County, and Eunice New Mexico are setting a dangerous precedent: They are all blatantly (and unapologetically) defying state law, voiding their oaths to uphold the constitution of New Mexico.
At the Edgewood town hall, virtually every resident supporting the ordinance recited Bible verses, and scripture, and relayed personal religious beliefs regarding abortion. Those residents who opposed the ordinance brought facts, reason, and legal knowledge to the podium, and pointed out that not everyone shares the same theological beliefs on abortion.
Edgewood Town Commissioner Sterling Donner set the tone for the town hall, stating: “It’s time to rise up, it’s time to fight … for the rights of these unborn children.” Sounds like a challenge to me.
More disturbing, a representative from the Coalition of Conservatives in Action, based in Las Cruces, also spoke in favor of the ordinance. If you look at the organization’s website, it states that citizens have been enslaved by a corrupt government and that the coalition is dedicated to challenging government overreach.
As I sat listening to advocates of the ordinance, the common thread involved Bible verses and standing up to the state in the name of God. Some claimed that the state of New Mexico is tyrannical, run by leftist elites who don’t understand the community and want to take our guns (per Republican House Rep. Stefani Lord, District 22).
I am a pastor’s daughter, but the Bible is not a basis for a system of government, and when people claim that their god’s laws supersede the law of the land, we then find ourselves in the midst of a theocratic movement that is a threat to democracy and the separation of church and state.
If the state of New Mexico does not act to curb the proliferation of such ordinances which are in blatant defiance of HB7 and the state constitution, the democratic process in the Land of Enchantment is at great risk, as is a woman’s right to choose.